


Halo's Reach

by schneescake



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Halo au, WhiteWitch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:34:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29867139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schneescake/pseuds/schneescake
Summary: An Atlesian, known as the Special Operative, is assigned to Halo to locate a team of soldiers who have gone dark. The Operative works alongside Salem, an Artificial Intelligence created to help uncover more of Halo's secrets; but there is one secret that will change the course of Remnant’s history. (Halo AU.)
Relationships: Salem/Winter Schnee
Comments: 7
Kudos: 6





	Halo's Reach

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, a few things before we get started: this is an AU inspired by the Halo universe but with a RWBY theme. If you’ve never played the games you can (hopefully!) still enjoy the story; all you really need to know is that it’s sci-fi based. If you have played the games, I hope you like the references. It will still have a central theme of Salem/Winter's relationship but featuring other characters.
> 
> The Covenant will not be in the story but I'm sure you can guess which enemy I have taken inspiration from instead. ‘Atlesian’ is the term I’m using instead of ‘Spartan’, it does not mean someone from Atlas in this context. Also as a heads up: Salem is not a villain - I will be sticking as close to her personality as I can with my portrayal, while leaning towards how I imagine she was when she was human. Lastly, our Master Chief is known as Special Operative instead; I think it has a nice ring to it.

The hustle and bustle within Beacon, the largest military base on Remnant, far exceeded the norm that particular morning. Soldiers were rushing down corridors, skipping out on their training, even their breakfast, to catch a glimpse of the guests soon to be arriving in the cargo bay. 

After all, it wasn’t every day you got to see an Atlesian in person, let alone four. Aboard the approaching vessel were the high-ranking Atlesians, accompanied by General Ironwood, head of the Atlesian Training Program, proud to present his chosen warriors to Admiral Ozma. Today was one of their most important tests, and they would be aiming to attain the highest score. 

The twins, sporting their red and black body armour, cast a glance to each other beneath their helmets, where they sat inside the airship. Qrow, owner of the black armour, was bouncing his leg impatiently, while Raven, wearing red, cracked her knuckles beneath their plating. The third, Robyn, in light green, was stretching her arms to loosen her muscles. The last soldier was pacing slowly, the shine of her white armour gleaming beneath the morning rays of sunlight.  
  
“You know, you could sit down like the rest of us,” Raven offered in a deadpan tone.  
  
“She never sits down during take off or landings. Probably uncomfortable with the stick up her ass,” Qrow chipped in with an unseen grin beneath his helmet. He always enjoyed getting under his comrade’s skin, if only to prompt some kind of reaction from the usually stoic soldier.  
  
“Good point, brother. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her _this_ tense though,” Raven continued as if the subject of their observations wasn’t two steps in front of them. “What’s the matter, Schnee? Worried about your score before we’ve even started?”

“Knock it off you two,” Robyn interjected, if only to block out the snarky commentary from impacting her good mood. “Enjoy the moment. It’s rare for even us Atlesians to get selected for a project like this.” Qrow shrugged his shoulders and Robyn smiled under her visor, shaking her head. The pacing, silent soldier came to a halt, reaching for the grab handle in the back of the ship as the vessel lurched into its final descent.  
  
“We’re approaching the LZ now, Atlesians. Prepare to disembark,” Ironwood ordered from where he was piloting, prompting Raven, Qrow and Robyn to stand alongside their quiet companion. 

“Don’t get your hopes up too much, Robyn. I’ll be winning the Admiral’s little test today,” Raven smirked, patting Robyn’s shoulder. Robyn shrugged her off with a sigh.  
  
“One of these days that arrogance is gonna come back to bite you, Raven,” Qrow laughed at Robyn’s sassy retort, and the ship came to a slow halt once the General had landed her smoothly.

  
~ **** ~

“Who do you think’s gonna win?” Jaune asked excitedly, pressing his gloved hands against the glass screen as he stared down at the Atlesians below. He was a rookie soldier, only recently graduated from his military training.  
  
“It’s hard to say,” Pyrrha contemplated, standing beside her friend to watch Ironwood debriefing the four Atlesians on their test.

“They look so awesome,” Jaune sighed dreamily, eyeing their expensive armour, covering every part of their body, their shiny visor-installed helmets covering their faces entirely. “If I was an Atlesian I’d have blue armour,” he continued, glancing at Pyrrha. “What about you?”  
  
“I’d pick pink!” Nora chimed in excitedly where she was standing to the left of Jaune, bouncing on the balls of her feet, eagerly watching the Atlesians below. Pyrrha chuckled from their enthusiasm. 

“Well, it doesn’t really matter. You know marines like us don’t get to become Atlesians,” Pyrrha said. Jaune sighed before pouting, dropping his arms from the glass to fold them.  
  
“Pyrrha, let me have my dream!” he jokingly complained. “How _do_ they get chosen anyways?”  
  
“Atlesians aren’t chosen, they’re born,” Ren answered calmly, carefully placing the pistols he’d been reloading down on the table. Jaune and Pyrrha turned to look at him curiously as he continued, “they’re raised on the General’s Atlesian Training Program. They go through extensive training from a young age that most of us wouldn’t cope with as adults. They’re put under stress, to test if their personalities are compatible with their role, and, if they’re able to stay focused under pressure, they take the next step to becoming supersoldiers, and are given their armour and specialist training.”

“It sounds intense,” Jaune said, looking back to the four Atlesians through the window with new found respect. “I never really thought about all of that...I just kinda-”  
  
“Thought they were cool?” Pyrrha finished with a small smile.  
  
“I thought they were cool,” Jaune repeated sheepishly. 

“They’re certainly cool alright,” Ren admitted.  
  
“And strong too,” Nora added, turning to watch as the General dismissed his best supersoldiers to prepare.

~ **** ~

“Atlesians, you may begin,” Ironwood ordered over the communications once the four soldiers were ready. Ahead of them was a VR battlefield filled with Remnant Military Division robots, forming an attack on their position. The mission was to take out as many enemies as possible, while defending the point. The point took priority, but dispatching enemies efficiently would also enhance their score. They were free to use whatever resources they found; teamwork was encouraged, despite only one individual being chosen upon the completion of the test.

“Good luck you guys,” Robyn called to her comrades with a two-fingered salute and laugh as she broke into a run, leaping over cover to draw her assault rifle and aim it at the approaching robots.  
  
“I don’t need luck,” Raven answered, the scope of her sniper rifle taking out a robot several meters away from the point. She began her advance, planning to keep them pushed back before they could get too close, too soon.  
  
“Suit yourself, I’ll take all the luck I can get,” Qrow said.

He slapped the silent, white-armoured Atlesian on the back as he ran past her, taking after Robyn to engage in some friendly competition with her. The quiet soldier exhaled to keep her mind clear. Her first move was to check the perimeter, watching for any possible flanking positions by the enemy. Once she was certain of her surroundings, the Atlesian drew her pistol, but, unlike her comrades, she did not charge into battle headfirst. Instead, she kept her aim on the knights approaching from the sides her fellow Atlesians hadn’t bothered to check.

“I’m at eight already, Robyn,” Qrow teased, swinging the butt of his weapon to smash it into another robot’s head, knocking it clean off its hinges, sparks flying from the exposed wires.  
  
“Eight? Come on, Qrow, you know you can do better than that,” Robyn counter teased, shooting at three approaching enemies. She ducked to avoid returning fire from one of them while the other two stumbled from damage.  
  
“Hey, lovebirds, mind keeping it down over there?” Raven called to them with irritation, distracted by their little competition.  
  
“We’re not lovebirds,” they both answered heatedly, before sharing an awkward glance.  
  
“Could have fooled me,” Raven taunted, and, as usual, they began an argument in the middle of the field, Robyn and Qrow continuing to count their kills. 

While the three engaged in their regular exchange of pleasantries, the soldier in white kept to herself, searching a small warehouse behind them for anything of use after she’d taken out all of the robots headed for the point. 

They’d been training for this secret project for three months. Something didn’t add up...it was too easy. She crouched to inspect some abandoned weapons, discarding her half-empty assault rifle for a shotgun in case of close combat emergencies. Holstering the larger weapon at her back, she kept her pistol drawn, collecting some plasma grenades before hurrying through a back exit of the run-down warehouse.  
  
Outside, the ongoing bickering had yet to cease, and the chaos of gunfire and shouting seemed to be doing a good enough job drawing the enemy’s attention away from the point for now. Not exactly the strategy the silent soldier would have used were this a real battle…  
  
“Watch it, dumbass,” Raven yelled as Qrow aimed a shot that whistled past her helmet.  
  
“I was nowhere near you,” Qrow argued back, bristled by the insult from his sibling.  
  
“Check your visor, I think it might be blocking your aim from all the bullshit you’re spewing.” 

Qrow growled angrily from Raven’s rudeness, rapid firing at the wave of knights on approach. His rifle clicked a few times. 

“I’m out,” he gruffly called.  
  
“Me too,” Robyn added from where she’d been meleeing a robot to knock it backwards.  
  
“Better hope this is the last of them then,” Raven said, using her final shots to take down the back row of robots as they appeared through the distant fog.  
  
“Maybe you could help for once and find some ammo?” Qrow suggested.

“Why don’t you find some yourself, sweetheart?” Raven stuck her finger up as she hopped down from the vantage point she’d been sniping from. Smoke rose from the downed robots, and for a moment the battlefield was quiet.  
  
“Where’s Schnee?” Raven added, approaching the two Atlesians.  
  
“I heard her taking some shots from behind us,” Robyn said, motioning with her thumb to where their comrade was keeping point, having never strayed too far from their objective.  
  
“Whatever, more importantly how many are you at?” Qrow asked.  
  
“Twenty-one,” Robyn proudly announced.  
  
“Ha, I’m at twenty-three,” Qrow threw his arm around Robyn’s neck.  
  
“Get off,” she complained as Raven headed over to grab some ammo from a crate nearby.  
  
“This is a joke. I thought this test was supposed to be important, and they sent us to fight a bunch of RMD knights?” Raven scoffed, kicking one of the robot parts across the field carelessly.  
  
“Heh, yeah. Too bad, I was hoping for a challenge,” Qrow agreed with a shrug.  
  
While they talked, distracted by counting kills, restocking ammo and complaining, they missed the clearing fog ahead, where two paladins were on an approach.  
  
“I hate to break it to you two novices, but there’s nothing you can do to beat my score. The Admiral is going to pick me, so you might as well call it a day,” Raven boasted. Before Robyn could come up with an answer, she exhaled a gasp of shock, pointing to the distance. 

“Look out!” 

The paladins had open fired several missiles towards their location. With little time to do more than react, Robyn threw her arms above her head, Qrow crouched and tucked his limbs in, and Raven turned her back to take the brunt of it. The frightening sound of the approaching missiles whooshing towards them ended in a deafening rumble that sent a shockwave through the ground. 

When the smoke cleared, Raven was the first to notice a shimmering, blue shield surrounding their position. The shield had soaked most of the damage, chunks of virtual soil and dust floating through the air where the missiles had collided with the computer generated terrain.  
  
“Robyn, Raven, stay in cover. Defend the point from reinforcements,” came their comrade’s sharp voice through the ringing in their ears. 

Having never let her guard down, the white-clad soldier spotted the paladins before the others. Unfortunately she had no time to warn them of the incoming fire. Instead, she thought fast, and acted faster, leaping from cover to deploy the protective shield.  
  
“Qrow, with me. Paladins are slow, we can outmanoeuvre them if we work together,” Winter said, taking him by the arm to help him onto his feet. He nodded, and the two broke into a run towards the machines. “Head left,” she called out, motioning to cover. Qrow ducked towards a rocky expanse as another missile shot past him.  
  
“What’s the plan here, Winter?” Qrow shouted over his cover, shifting forwards as another explosion went off to his right.  
  
“Draw their fire,” she answered in a steady tone, wielding her shotgun to quickly fill it with rounds. Winter finished loading the weapon, “and try not to die.”

“What are _you_ gonna do?” Qrow continued as he fired at the paladins to keep their attention off Winter. The Atlesian headed to the right towards where the larger robots backs were positioned. 

Winter’s answer was unspoken, shown instead, through her actions. She broke into a swift run towards the first paladin, firing a shot at it, predicting the bullet would prompt it to notice her and take a swing in its confusion. As she suspected, the machine slowly took a step in her direction, its large arm heading towards her. Winter dived into a roll underneath the heavy, metal limb as it slowly crashed down against the ground.  
  
Winter pulled out a grenade, turning from the momentum of her roll to throw the lit blue sphere at the paladin’s arm. It was still trying to retract from its impact on the floor where its quick-moving target should have been. Spotting the glowing grenade as it stuck to the paladin furthest from his position, Qrow ducked back into cover to avoid the oncoming explosion. Within seconds the air around them grew heavy as the grenade ignited in fiery blue sparks, sending debris from the paladin’s arm skyward as it blew off the machine.  
  
“Good one,” Qrow complimented, peering over the top of the rocks to check Winter had managed to avoid getting caught up in the detonation radius.  
  
“We’re not done yet,” Winter reminded, and Qrow had to admit her unwavering focus was impressive. He kept the last paladin off his comrade to give her time to take it out alongside its companion. Sure enough, following Winter’s direction, they had the situation under control in record time.

“I think this might be the day Robyn was talking about,” Qrow muttered to himself.

  
~ **** ~  


“Thank you for your participation in today’s test,” Ironwood began, looking over his four supersoldiers where they stood before him in the heart of the command center, where operations were overseen. “While I found certain tactical decisions to be questionable, you successfully completed the operation following the parameters that were set for you.”

He gave a short nod to each of them, before taking a step back. Admiral Ozma, in his medal-covered, green uniform, strode forward. His dark brown hair had streaks of silver through it, a sign of his age. He stood with purpose, but he appeared tired; the dark bags beneath his eyes evidence enough.

The Admiral’s work was difficult and he was constantly on duty. It was his responsibility to aid in the continued re-construction and global safety of Remnant. While the planet was currently without major threat, the process of maintaining a time of relative peace was prone to many disagreements across the regions. Beacon had become the Remnant Military division’s largest op center, where many sectors of the military converged to receive orders and deployment. Ozma oversaw and assigned these orders, and worked to guide Remnant down a path of stability. 

Remnant Special Projects (RSP) worked closely with Ozpin’s division, to create new technology and scientific discoveries that would continue to allow Remnant to thrive in their promising era. Those who had come before had failed to guide the planet down a path of unity, but Remnant’s second time around had an edge their predecessors did not.

They had Halo.

Halo, a floating ring that had been found in space, above Remnant. Halo was more than a mere station; it possessed an artificially created mini-world, contained inside the ring itself. The discovery had led to new breakthroughs that would have been near impossible without the intel they recovered from their careful exploration of the ring. 

Where Halo came from, however, remained a mystery.

Thanks to the leaps and bounds they had made in technological developments due to Halo, the Admiral had been able to give the go ahead for a very special project. A project that had reached completion three months ago, and was finally ready to be used in the field. 

Ozma approached the Atlesians lined up before him. He gave them all a once over, a stern look crossing his face that gradually softened into a calm, welcoming expression.

“As the General aptly put, I too, would like to thank you for your attendance,” the Admiral said. “I am sure you are aware that only one of you will be put forward for the Salem Program, and I am pleased to say, after a lengthy discussion with my colleagues, I have made my decision.”

Ozma descended the small steps where he had been standing, to walk slowly along the line of soldiers. He passed Qrow and Raven with little reaction. Raven’s fists clenched, and Qrow hung his head. The Admiral lingered briefly at Robyn, and a flicker of what seemed to be uncertainty appeared on his face. 

He then passed her, and stopped in front of Winter.

“Congratulations, Special Operative,” he held out his hand. 

Winter accepted it with a firm shake. “Thank you, sir,” she respectfully answered, releasing his hand. He gave her a polite smile, before turning to walk back up the steps, towards the command center’s main viewpoint. 

Winter cast a glance at her comrades. She was proud to have been selected, of course, but had not expected it to be the outcome. Raven was often a better shot, Qrow had better endurance and Robyn’s positive attitude made her a wonderful leader. While their test had certainly begun in an unfavourable way for her fellow Atlesians, after the appearance of the paladins, her teammates had shown their skills to their full capabilities. They had worked together and fought together well. 

After many years of training, Winter had come to respect the soldiers she grew up alongside. It would be...strange to move forward without them.  
  
Robyn gave her a thumbs up, through her disappointment. Qrow managed a nod of acknowledgement for her accomplishment, but Raven crossed her arms and refused to look in her direction. Even with their helmets on, Winter was certain she could feel the glare on Raven’s face, hidden underneath it. 

Ironwood stepped forwards to speak with the Atlesians and explain their next orders. They each gave a salute to him and made to leave the center. Winter gave one last look to her former team, before she followed the Admiral, where he was waiting for her ahead.

“I commend you on your exemplary performance. You certainly meet the criteria for the program and I have no doubt that you will serve our cause well. This is a momentous occasion, Operative. The first time in history that a fully advanced Artificial Intelligence will work directly alongside humanity,” Ozma explained with a proud smile.  
  
“I’m honoured, Admiral,” Winter responded with sincerity.  
  
“Well then, would you like to meet her?” Ozma smiled, keen to press forward swiftly.  
  
“I would be glad to, sir.”  
  
“Salem, we’re ready for you now,” Ozma addressed a terminal to his left, greeting the A.I as she blinked into existence.  
  
“Took you long enough. I was growing tired of waiting,” Salem teased, her voice soothing and clear, with a slight layering to it that gave away she was artificial. Winter was surprised to see Ozma chuckle at her sassy remark.  
  
Salem’s visual appearance was shrunk enough that were she a real person, she would fit into Winter’s hands. Salem was a lavender shade all over her uncovered body. She was made up of smooth sections while certain parts of her had glowing virtual wiring like veins sparkling under invisible skin. Her ‘hair’ was long, some pulled into a bun while the rest hung loosely around her. Winter took note of how detailed and pretty her face was.  
  
She hadn’t been expecting the A.I to look so... _human_.

“This must be the Special Operative,” Salem looked towards the soldier, a hand coming to rest upon her hip as she took in the sight of the impressive, white Atlesian armour. It was equally as strange for her to not see a person’s face staring back at her, but instead a fancy looking, silver visor in place of eyes, and a sleek, fitted helmet in place of hair. “Hm, I thought she’d be taller.” 

Ozma cleared his throat to stop himself chuckling again, noticing the Operative’s rigidity from Salem’s comment. He caught sight of Winter readjusting her stance.

“You must excuse Salem’s, ah, _unique_ personality. I suppose you could say that’s how she was made,” Ozma explained. “Now that introductions are out of the way,” he hastily continued, “I will debrief you on your new assignment.”

“Fifteen days ago we sent an elite group of soldiers known as the Ace Operatives to investigate a previously unexplored region of Halo. We had been receiving reports every twelve hours from the unit until exactly seventeen hours ago when contact suddenly ceased,” Ozma’s tone turned grim as he explained the situation.  
  
“You are to accompany a team of marines, led by Sergeant Rainart, locate the missing Ace Ops and find out why they have gone silent,” the Admiral finished, motioning towards where Salem was listening alongside Winter.  
  
“Salem will be joining you to assist the team in navigating Halo and to provide expertise on the mission. Sergeant Rainart is aware of her attendance and involvement. Her recommendations are to be respected and followed wherever possible.”  
  
“I understand, sir,” Winter acknowledged.  
  
“Good, then all that’s left is to get you two hooked up,” Ozma moved towards Salem’s terminal.  
  
“Watch where you put your hands,” Salem sarcastically said as he began to input information into the terminal next to where her visage was still visible for the moment. Smiling to himself, Ozma finished deactivating Salem’s image. She briefly flickered before disappearing.  
  
Ozma reached to extract a data chip from underneath where Salem had been standing, handing it to Winter. Winter looked at the chip before carefully taking it, lifting it up to admire it, flipping it to look at its identical sides.  
  
“There’s a slot at the back of your helmet. Insert Salem and she will be connected to your suit. From there she can communicate directly through your comm channel to you and the rest of the unit.” 

Winter nodded once, before reaching behind her head to find the slot at the back of her helmet. Winter pushed the chip into place, and heard a drawn out, relieved sigh echoing through her internal comm followed by a beeping noise to confirm the connection was complete.

“Seems like there’s plenty of room in here,” Salem commented.  
  
“Don’t get any ideas,” Winter muttered under her breath.  
  
“Don’t you trust me, Operative?” There was a touch of amusement behind the A.I’s voice.  
  
“Not yet,” Winter said stiffly.  
  
“We’ll have to work on that,” Salem said.  
  
“I assume everything is in order?” Ozma asked, hearing one side of the conversation now that Salem was connected to Winter’s comms.  
  
“All fine, sir,” Winter confirmed.  
  
“Excellent. Sergeant Rainart is waiting for you in the cargo bay,” Winter saluted the Admiral as she was given permission to leave, turning to head down the steps. “Operative?” Winter paused, looking back towards him. His expression was serious, and Winter felt an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach from the look on his face.

“Be careful up there.”

**Author's Note:**

> I recently played through the Master Chief Collection after I got it as an early birthday present, and that sparked the inspiration for this. I really love the dynamic between Chief and Cortana, I think it’s a very unique love story. Since Jen Taylor voices both Cortana and Salem, I thought it’d be a fun idea to have a story where Salem takes on a similar role to Cortana’s. I also couldn’t stop thinking about how Winter would fit really well as a Spartan...and here we are.
> 
> The other Atlesians will likely only feature in this chapter. I wanted to have the test be interesting to read and that’s why I included them. It was also to show the difference in Winter’s personality compared to the others on the program. It's an important similarity to Chief, when you think about the Noble Team and their more open personalities compared to his stoic yet self-assured attitude.


End file.
